Park Grill In Millennium Park

A behind-the-scenes kitchen and bakery, outfitted with equipment ranging from convection ovens and charbroilers to ranges and a small rotisserie, supply the new Park Grill restaurant and its outdoor summer patio.

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies - August 2004

By Donna Boss
Contributing Editor

A behind-the-scenes kitchen and bakery, outfitted with equipment ranging from convection ovens and charbroilers to ranges and a small rotisserie, allow staff to produce meals for the new Park Grill restaurant and its outdoor summer patio, an adjoining café and catered events in Chicago's latest park and performance center.

Last month, Chicago opened one of the largest park and cultural center projects in its history. Known as Millennium Park, the 24.5 million-square-foot space is located east of Michigan Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in the Windy City, and adjacent to the city's downtown business district. Featured in this new venue (which has been a priority project for Mayor Richard Daley despite its opening four years late and at three times the original budget) are a Frank Gehry-designed band shell, an underground theater with 1,500 seats, outdoor sculptures, gardens and fountains.

Another locale highlight is Park Grill, the development's sole restaurant, which is owned by the Chicago Park District and managed and operated by Millennium Park Joint Venture. This arrangement was established between two Chicago restaurateurs: Jim Horan, owner of Blue Plate Catering and Rhapsody Restaurant, and Matthew O'Malley, proprietor of Chicago Firehouse Restaurant and other local establishments. The 275-seat Park Grill, designed with floor-to-ceiling glass doors, overlooks the new McCormick Tribune ice rink in the winter, which converts into a dining patio with 150 seats in the summer.

Opened in November 2003, eight months before the official park debut, the 2,350-square-foot Park Grill, with a staff of 200, serves classic American cuisine under the direction of Bernard Laskowski, the restaurant's executive chef, who formerly worked at such Chicago landmarks as the Pump Room and the Four Seasons. A 745-square-foot grab 'n go counter area offers light fare for skaters and downtown lunch-seekers. The menu served on the 16,000-square-foot outdoor patio is slightly simpler than the restaurant's, though more complex than that offered at the grab 'n go counter. Approximately 1,000 meals are served daily at the main restaurant and another 1,000 daily at the patio and grab 'n go counter. Millennium Park Joint Venture also has an exclusive catering arrangement with the park, which is supported by a central production kitchen owned by Blue Plate Catering in Chicago.

"We believe Millennium Park belongs to everyone," said O'Malley, "so we wanted to provide a fine-casual restaurant environment that would appeal to many types of guests." Added Mario Ponce, Park Grill's general manager, whose background includes Rosebud Restaurants and Hardrock Café International, "We've put on the menu items people in Chicago like to eat and I think we've done it very well."

An $8 million investment, which included working capital and the cost of fixtures, furnishings, marketing and nearly $400,000 for restaurant equipment, has resulted in a comfortable yet sleek and contemporary environment at the Park Grill. "Because we had low ceilings, we needed to design the space so it didn't feel cramped," explained the project's architect, Tom Smiciklas, a partner at Aria Group Architects Inc. "Our objective was to have every seat look out at the skating rink and the skyline. We also designed tiers, so people sitting close to the bar are elevated and can also see out."

The interior décor of the restaurant was selected by Aria Group to create an inviting ambiance during both the daytime and evening hours. Flooring made from Brazilian woods and marble, bamboo wall coverings, limestone bar tops, fireplace and columns, mahogany woodwork and soft fabrics on banquettes and booths lend an elegant and relaxing touch to the atmosphere. Cove, halogen and wall-inserted accent lights that change colors were all installed for dramatic effect.

The restaurant's cohesive design and attentive service belie the challenges that faced the Park Grill's project team when designing and equipping the new restaurant. The facility is positioned over a space that formerly contained railroad tracks and was later converted into a parking garage. "There was no gas, so we had to get it from the other side of Michigan Avenue," recalled O'Malley. "Also, there wasn't enough electric power available when we opened, so we had to bring in a costly generator to keep us going during the first few weeks."

In addition, noted O'Malley, "Given its position in the park, the restaurant resembles a bunker built into a hill. It is situated under a part of the park that supports a huge sculpture. [Designed by British artist Anish Kapoor, the sculpture is made of polished steel and weighs 110 tons.] For aesthetic purposes, we couldn't run duct work upward. Rather, we had to side-vent the exhaust. This proved to be difficult, because none of us on the project team had done that before."

The horizontally vented exhaust also had to be clean enough to comply with Chicago's air-quality regulations. "A system was selected that prevents grease from collecting in the duct work," explained Steve Schoop, president of ADE Restaurant Services in Addison, Ill., which provided the kitchen design and served as equipment dealer for the project. "Ultra-violet lights in the hoods break down all grease in the system into an inert powder. Then, scrubbers, which consist of a module of different filters, clean the exhaust further by literally removing smoke and odors. Finally, the air is vented past the mechanical room to the south side of the restaurant and into the park."

After the front-of-the-house plan had been determined, the project design team took on the back of the house. "We wanted to keep the kitchen as reasonably priced as possible, while still installing equipment that would stand up to extensive high usage," said Schoop.

Entering the kitchen from the front of the house, an L-shaped expediting and finishing line is seen first. (A dishwashing area is situated to the right side of and slightly behind the entrance.) Placed on the front of the "L" are a worktable, pull-down heat lamps and double overshelf assembly upon which finished plates are placed for the expediter to examine before sending out to guests.

Directly behind this counter is a refrigerated prep table and hot food table, which are just steps from the hot cookline. "A more traditional line rather than a European design was selected because the owners and chefs felt more comfortable with it," commented Schoop. Executive Chef Laskowski agreed. "I like this setup, because cooks don't have to move around as much," he said. "I believe that when cooks are working next to one another, they communicate better."

Ë la minute preparation takes place on the cookline. Facing the line, from left to right, are a salamander broiler, a worktop freezer and fryers that are used for final preparation of menu items such as the baby back ribs that are then tossed with balsamic glaze and a chili dry rub. (Many of Laskowski's creations at Park Grill are made with marinades and brines to soften and flavor protein items before they are cooked in the rotisserie or grilled.)

Next to the fryers are worktables and a charbroiler, which is used to prepare the double-cut pork chops (which first have been rotisserie-roasted), beef tenderloins, bone-in rib-eyes, rotisserie chicken (also roasted first), steak for sandwiches, portobello mushrooms and ample burgers that are served on thick rolls purchased from a local bakery.

At the end of the line are two six-burner ranges that are used to sauté fish and seafood specialties, such as jumbo lump crab cakes, salmon, trout and grouper. Some poultry and meat dishes are also finished on the sauté range.

On the opposite side of the "L," looking back into the kitchen, is the pantry area, which contains a pass-through, reach-in cooler, a refrigerated prep table and microwave oven. Order-receiving terminals are placed here, as well as on the front and back of the long part of the "L" and further back in the kitchen. Located across an aisle from the main production area is additional pantry preparation and holding equipment, including pan racks, soup warmers, wall shelves, worktables, an ice cream freezer, a dipperwell, a toaster, worktop refrigerators, a conveyor oven, a braising pan for baked French onion soup and a steam kettle.

In the pantry area, menu items such as salads (a hand mixer is used to make salad dressings), a bruschetta plate, jumbo shrimp cocktail, seasonal oysters, barbecued chicken wings and cold sandwiches are prepared and assembled. Final dessert prep takes place in this area, as well.

Perpendicular to the end of the pantry and located along the back side of the cookline are pieces of equipment used for bulk preparation of sauces, soups pizzas, poultry and meats such as meatloaf, braised pot roast, baby back ribs, prime rib, turkey and lamb shanks. From left to right, again seen looking toward the back of the kitchen, are pan racks, a rotisserie oven, two convection ovens, a rotisserie, a four-burner range (Laskowski prefers to use steel-plate bottomed pots on this piece), fill faucets, a charbroiler, fryers and a worktable. Another refrigerated prep table was also installed in this area, in addition to a reach-in cooler, wall shelves, a slicer, a worktable and a steam kettle. Just as the front-of-the-house plan presented challenges, so, too, did the back-of-the-house design. "Positioning drains where we wanted them was a concern," recalled Schoop. "Because we're situated on top of a parking garage, we couldn't necessarily place them where we wanted them to go."

An additional compromise that had to be made due to the restaurant's location and shape was the installation of grease traps under each piece of equipment. "We would have preferred a remote grease trap," said Schoop, "but it was cost-prohibitive."

Limited kitchen space also required that the bakery and cold and dry storage equipment had to be positioned a five-minute walk - through an underground tunnel - from the main kitchen to a space near the loading docks. This 465-square-foot bakery is equipped with prep tables, electric convection ovens, a 40-quart mixer and countertop induction units. Among the most popular bakery selections are a moist chocolate cake, crème brulee and banana bread pudding.

Adjacent to the bakery is a 920-square-foot space with three walk-in coolers and a walk-in freezer. Employee lockers, dry storage (735-square-feet), offices, storage for seasonal items and carts are also located in this remote area. Despite substantial challenges presented by the location and shape of Park Grill, the project group was well aware that jobs such as this don't come along every day. "We felt this restaurant-design venture would be a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," concluded O'Malley. Now that the park is officially open and the restaurant is gearing up for peak production, the equipment that was installed will be put to its ultimate endurance test by the restaurant's staff. So far, it looks like the E&S package is also up to the challenge.